Spotted this wonderful spread in the FTs 'How To Spend It' supplement the other day. Fabulous fashion photography breaking all the rules. The models are stiff and clunky with inelegant knees and fat heels brutishly plonked down. It shouldn't work, but it does. Aspirational high-end cool. The pictures have absolute narrative; stills from something thrilling going on. The styling is delicious, the gilding rich, almost hyper-twenties; F Scott meets Vegas. Reverting to the Gucci website I see the campaign is called Cruise. Lifestyle photography gone steamer punk.

I love the crooked angles, trailing wires and funky awkwardness. I love the story and thrust. These are beautiful, cinematic images that give me more pleasure than fine art. The website images are quieter but as thrilling for their staging. Exquisite colour-pallet vignettes. The drama of the advertorial campaign grabs us. The expanded portfolio luxuriates on the accessories and clothes.

Product Photography

Product images with an all-white background are often referred to as 'high key'. The process in post-production of cleaning up the background and extracting the object is known as 'clipping out'. High key images have become the default visual language of online stores.

I'm not enthusiastic - whilst promoting consistency and encouraging a product to really pop on the page, it does strip an object of any context. In selling, context is king, lifestyle ambiance is brand identity. An e-commerce store presented high key will benefit from lifestyle or contextual banners, such as Habitat does here. The products are clipped out but the pages are given depth and and interest with on-brand lifestyle shot. The colours are consistent to a narrow mood board, the pages are clean and classy.

Fashion

Fashion has settled on a slightly different look. I think the reasons for this are two-fold; white is very harsh and is synonymous with product selling, plus collections change constantly. Model shoots are costly and clipping out is time-consuming. The solution is muted tones and lighting that offer a softer surround. The models are shot on a white background that is slightly under-lit. This frames the model on a white website and slight shadows look more natural.

Photo Shoots

FAI offers high key product shoots. There are plenty of samples here. I use a white backdrop or a large light tent with professional studio lighting. The key is in setting the lights so that the background and object are both lit independently then exposing for both correctly. It does take a bit of practice and experience to get it right. I don't charge extra for clipping out per image, this is part of the shoot fee. It's up to me to light and expose correctly to minimise the clipping out work.